Interaction Design WikiInterdisciplinary Modules

Intimacy At Distance 2023

Block Seminar Design Theory 2nd semester

Lecturer:
Dr. Joëlle Bitton

The module takes place over 1 week, from 6h to 10th of February 2022, from Monday to Friday, 9.00-17.00 -  - see timetable below for details.
(6&7.02 on Zoom and 8&10.02 in Toni). 

Topic

You may have first read the description of this course on the school Intranet or on an email. You have spent the last three years shifting many activities online first during the height of the pandemic and then between convenience and functionality, taking new habits:  discussing, learning, engaging with the world online, on Zoom, using a co-working platform such as a Miro board, etc. You are using WhatsApp, Discord, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook and many other communication apps on a daily basis, gaming or living part of your life online. This is how you are in touch with your friends, lovers, sexual partners, family… Maybe you even consider yourself “addicted”.

How did we get here? Over the past twenty-five years, the tech industry has built an infrastructure of communicating at distance and of sharing the most intimate parts of ourselves (even the ones we’re not aware of).

Yet, distant communication interfaces are not new: mail - via horse, train, air and more recently, the telephone have played essential roles in the construction of our interactions. And just as the emergence of the phone and the networks in the 19th century enhanced our communication models, the Internet and its palette of services accommodate distance in our daily relations. Each of these systems have set a range of social behaviours that frame our expectations and boundaries. And with every service, we discover how they can allow us to be in a greater mode of intimacy with each other.

Objectives of the course

The aim of the seminar is to reflect on the ways communication and interaction interfaces have modelled our lives and our expectations of relations at distance. We will look at historical case studies, at the field of human connectedness and at how intimacy, sex, friendships, daily conversations are choreographed by online experiences. The seminar is structured as on-going dialogue and the students will work on certain questions each day. In the end, a short essay & a web app experience should be created to showcase an interpretation of the topic.

Structure

The class will be structured around discussions, lectures, presentations of film and literature materials and in-class exercises.

This course will address:

Deliverables

Expectations, Gradings and Presence

Grades for this class are passing or failing. Assignments are general class participation, exercises, readings&reflections through response notes, and final work.
Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.  

Arriving late may also affect the passing grade.
Contributing to constructive group discussion is an essential aspect of class participation. 

Attendance of all the in-class sessions are imperative (3 mornings session and 1 afternoon session).  
The first two sessions are online (Zoom link provided by email) - the last two sessions are in presence. 
Zoom-etiquette during online sessions: please be present on screen (no commuting/travelling or doing another activity in parallel of the class), on time, and with camera turned-on as much as possible. 
Classes online and in presence at the same time are not possible.

Timetable

Mon 06.02 -
Distance & relationships
Tu 07.02 -
Human Connectedness

We 08.02 -
Connected Communities

Th 09.02 -
(...)

Fr 10.02 -
Intimacy revisited 

  • Intro: syllabus & course overview
  • Writing / reflective session

  • Lecture - Part 1
    'The fabric of Interaction is Distance'

  • Discussions in duos (Zoom room)

  • Readings discussion

  • Lecture - Part 2
    'The fabric of Interaction is Distance'

  • Discussions in duos (Zoom room)


  • Readings discussion

  • Overview of case studies that capture current trends.
  • Discussion in duos (Live in Toni)
All day: Independent study - Prepare assignment 4


Morning:

Independent study - Prepare final assignment 4

Upload assignment 4

Afternoon:
Independent study - Prepare assignment 1
*Send assignment 1 by 19.00


Afternoon:
Independent study - Prepare assignment 2
*Send assignment 2 by 19.00

Afternoon:
Independent study - Prepare assignment 2
*Send assignment 3 by 19.00

  • Presentation of final assignments
  • Closing Discussion
Literature/References
  1. S. Agamanolis New Technologies for Human Connectedness, 2005
  2. J. Bitton Distance and Sexuality, 2006
  3. D. Leithinger, S. Follmer, A. Olwal, H. Ishii Physical Telepresence, 2014
  4. D. van Bel,  W. IJsselsteijn, Y. de Kort Interpersonal Connectedness, 2018
  5. A. Watson, D. Lupton, M. Michael Enacting intimacy and sociality at a distance in the COVID-19 crisis, 2020
  6. A. E. Christensen, M. H. Magnussen, T. S. Seindal, and D. Raptis. 2022. Shaping Romance: Mediating Intimacy for Co-located Couples. In Proceedings of OzCHI '21. 2021

+S. Turkle Alone Together, Basic Books, 2012
See related Ted Talk, Connected but alone 

Use the Reading guideline to comment on the texts.